Dream Team vs. Redeem Team

I was going to hold my tongue and not make any Team USA comparisons. Then Spain's (and the Memphis Grizzlies') center Marc Gasol had to mess around and say this:


"On a bad day for the '92 team, the current team would lose by just 15 or 20 points against them"

That's ridiculous, on a bad day for the '92 team, Larry Bird and John Stockton play heavy minutes. Why is that a bad thing? Well, at 35, Larry Bird was the oldest member of the Dream Team and only played in 2 of the 8 games at the Olympics. John Stockton was 30 and there's no way he would be able to stay in front of ANY guard on the 2012 roster. There's absolutely no way that the '92 team wins by 15 to 20 points on a bad day. Gasol is just speaking in hyperbole, I'll drop the exaggeration for an understatement. I know a team that the '92 team would have trouble with on a GOOD day for them. And it's not the 2012 team. It's another Team USA roster with a catchy name, the 2008 Redeem Team. That's right folks, I'm going there. Sit down, grab some popcorn, 'cause you gon learn today! 

(Aside: I'm comparing the 1992 and 2008 teams on the court. Not their basketball legacies. Or their cultural impact. Just the on-the-court product. The 1992 team wins those other comparisons in a landslide.)

Reason #1: Age

 Dream Team Roster

Redeem Team Roster

Average age of the 1992 team: 29, 5/12 players older than 30 (Bird, Stockton, Drexler, Ewing, Johnson)

Average age of the 2008 team: 26, 1/12 players older than 30 (Kidd)

The difference in average age for these teams is just 3 years, but that is a world of difference in sports. Most athletes peak between the age of 26 and 29. That means that the 2008 team is loaded with players that were beginning their statistical prime while the 1992 team was stacked with guys that were never going to contribute the way they used to (that's how you end up with Larry Bird only playing 2 games). Both teams would have to end up playing their benches and I’m not frightened when I look down the Dream Team bench. The Redeem team is more likely to give up their seat in public transportation to some of the old guys on the 1992 team than worry about their crossover.

Reason #2: Better international competition

In 1992, the Dream Team ran roughshod over their competition. They won their 8 games by an average of 43.8 points. And after watching the NBA TV documentary on the Dream Team, the scores were not indicative of the gulf in talent between Team USA and the rest of the world. (I think the gap between Tom Hanks and Paul Walker might be close. Maybe Julia Roberts and Snooki?)

The rest of the world learned that day. Since that summer in Barcelona, basketball federations in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and France built elite programs. Globally, the quality of play improved dramatically. By the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Argentina was competitive enough to defeat Team USA, marking the first time that a team of professionals had failed to win the gold medal in 4 attempts.

The 2008 Redeem Team was born from the failures of the 2004 team and the triumph of international competition.  In 1992, the NBA had 21 international players (5% of all players); currently, there are 84 international players (19% of all players). The Redeem Team faced an overall quality of competition that toughened them in a way that the Dream Team would have never experienced.

Onions! verdict:

Team age and quality of opponents are sizable advantages for the Redeem Team. The 1992 version of several Dream Team players is an older shell of the legacies that we remember so fondly (Bird and Magic never won a playoff series after the 1991 season). Yeah, names like Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, and Tayshaun Prince won’t end up in the hall of fame. But that’s not what a game between the Dream Team and the Redeem Team would boil down to. Young legs, better depth, and a more competitive international culture would put the Redeem team in position to take down the Dream Team. Book it

Linsanity lands in Space City

On Wednesday, the New York Knicks declined to match the Houston Rockets' offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. Today, the internet is still trying not to collapse under the weight of all the controversy this decision created.

Where does Onions! stand on all this? It’s easy, the Knicks made a mistake by letting Lin go.

Let’s run down the most comment arguments against resigning Lin.

Argument 1: Lin’s new contract is “ridiculous”.

The Rockets offered Lin a 3 year, $25 million contract with a balloon payment in the third year. During his final year of this contract, Lin is scheduled to make $14.8 million in salary. If the Knicks are the team paying him that salary, he would cost the team $45 million on the salary cap (this is because the new Collective Bargaining Agreement becomes very punitive against teams like the Knicks that are over the salary cap in the 2014-2015 season).

Is Lin's contract (and year 3 in particular) actually ridiculous? Only in a vacuum where you evaluate players solely on the basketball skill that they bring to the court. Very few players in the HISTORY of the league could demand $45 million in one year (remember the total cap number) and Jeremy Lin certainly isn’t one of them. But Lin’s off the court financial impact more than compensates for his salary over the lifetime of his contract. Linsanity was responsible for Madison Square Garden and Time Warner Cable negotiating a new TV contract, added almost $600 million in market capitalization to Madison Square Garden, tripled ticket prices, and resulted in the second best selling jersey in the NBA. All this despite the fact that Lin didn't start playing until halfway through the season!

Also, it’s not a coincidence that the Rockets, a team familiar with marketable Asian basketball players (see: Yao Ming) attempted to pry Lin away from the Knicks. After almost a decade with Yao Ming in a Rockets' uniform, Rockets' management should know what to expect as they try to monetize Linsanity in the U.S. and abroad.

Argument 2: Not resigning Lin was a basketball decision about a guy that the Knicks weren’t truly sold on.

Whatever you think of his numbers during Linsanity (Lin averaged 24.6 ppg/9.2 apg/48.2% fg in 10 games before Carmelo Anthony returned from injury. After Anthony returned, Lin averaged 14.6 ppg/5.9 apg/43.2% fg in 16 games) the Knicks current pu-pu platter of options at point guard undermines that argument Lin was not a good basketball fit. New arrival Raymond Felton is on pace to become the first 300 lb point guard ever and at 39, Felton's new backup, Jason Kidd doesn’t need to be at the wheel of an offense (or a vehicle)

Argument 3: Lin betrayed the Knicks.

This argument claims that Lin took the Knicks for granted after the opportunity they gave him. For a guy that was hours away from returning to the NBA’s Development league, Lin could've shown how grateful he was to the Knicks by resigning. But why did the Knicks allow Lin to go and test the waters of free agency if they felt so loyal to him? Loyalty is a two-way street. Letting Lin go on the open market was not an act of loyalty by the Knicks. After all, the Knicks were hours away from letting Lin go. The Knicks should've locked Lin up to an extension if they thought he was an asset, otherwise you never know what will happen in free agency.

Onions! verdict:

Jeremy Lin is an improving, young 23 year-old point guard that generates tremendous fan interest. He basically costs the Knicks nothing (and probably generates them money) when you consider his tremendous off-court marketability. Ultimately, the Knicks are a better basketball product on and off the court with Jeremy Lin on their roster. Too bad for Knicks fans that their management can’t see this. 

All About the NBA

After watching the NBA all-star game festivities this weekend, I realized two things:

1. The NBA has the best all-star weekend in all of sports because their weekend showcases the NBA's athleticism and the "competitive" portion of this weekend actually is entertaining. Through the dunk contest (won by Los Angeles Clippers' big man Blake Griffin; more on that later) and the skills competition (won by the Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry) fans get to see the athleticism and skill of players in isolation without the role of rules such as traveling (wait? they already don't call traveling in the NBA?). And although most of the actual all-star game is a school-yard, ball-handlers game (note the obscene amount of ATTEMPTED alley-oops) the last five minutes of the game are usually very competitive and you can tell that winning/losing means something to the players. No other professional sports league can pretend to claim those two things about their all-star weekend.

quick slam-dunk contest/Blake Griffin point: I like Blake Griffin's game and his ferocious dunks on SportsCenter are always a treat, but he didn't have the best dunks in the competition. This dunk contest was more of a testament of Blake's increasing popularity (like Justin Beiber winning the MVP of the celebrity all-star game) as the media and fans just handed over the trophy when the other contestants went out there and truly performed more impressive dunks.

2. I have still not written an article about the state of the NBA union. For those that have been paying attention to the NBA, the state of the union is strong (with the obvious exception of the looming breakdown over labor negotiations between the league and players. Without the NBA, my sanity is up in the air; to the the rest of the world: you have been warned). This league is brimming with talent (young and old) at virtually every position and parity is up (despite the presence of a handful of juggernaut teams), ensuring a more entertaining visual experience for fans and commentators alike. That said, there are only a handful of teams and players that have dominated the story lines thus far. Here's a quick run-down of teams (we'll have a post about players later this week) that have mattered the most in the 2010-2011 NBA season:

Teams:

Los Angeles Lakers (38-19, 1st in Pacific Conference, 3rd in Western Conference)

The reigning two-time NBA champions are never one to shy away from the spotlight. This year the Lakers have had their usual amount of controversy (Ron Artest's woeful shooting, Kobe calling out teammates, Phil Jackson/teammates calling out Kobe, to name a few) but it has been followed by an uncharacteristic amount of losing. The Lake Show have had their first 4-game losing streak in the Pau Gasol era as well as a handful of 3-game losing streaks. Kobe's freshness during the all-star game, particularly his repeated drives to the basket (he attempted almost a dozen field goals inside of 6 feet, making 8), came as a welcome sight. Despite the escalating difficulty of their schedule,  look for the Lakers to start playing more consistent basketball as we get closer to the playoffs

San Antonio Spurs (46-10, 1st in Southwest Division, 1st in Western Conference, Best Record in the NBA)

Inexplicably, Father Time has overlooked the Spurs as the 4th oldest team (weighted by minutes played, thanks hoopism.com) has jumped out of the gates and not looked back. With perennial all-star Tim Duncan playing below his lofty standards for much of the season the Spurs have been able to amass the best record in the NBA doing what they do best: paying attention to detail and playing "within" themselves. Head coach Gregg Popovich has this team working hard on both ends of the floor (never a surprise on defense, but their offense has been more potent than in past years) and every Spurs player knows his role. I think the Spurs will start to rest their players for the playoffs as their stranglehold on the best record in the NBA is all but complete

Boston Celtics (40-14, 1st in Atlantic Division, 1st in Eastern Conference)


Boston are playing like the San Antonio Spurs-Eastern Conference Version. Their methodical consistency on the defensive end combined with the great playmaking from their "Big 3" and point guard Rajon Rondo are a tough combination to beat night-in and night-out. The Celts are the unquestioned favorite in the East and all competitors in the Eastern Conference know that the road to the NBA finals as the Eastern Conference representative goes through Boston. Especially this next team...

Miami Heat (41-15, 1st in Southeast Division, 2nd in Eastern Conference, Brangelina like media coverage)

The Heat trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade (not a mis-spelling, that's how he spells his name) and Chris Bosh have received an un-real amount of scrutiny this year with the Carmelo Anthony trade saga a VERY distant second as far as NBA news print is concerned. After starting the season 9-8, the Heat have banded together to go 32-7, including winning an NBA season high 21 games in a row. In fact, their record might have been more impressive if not for each of the "Heatles" (the self-styled nickname of Miami's "Big 3") missing at least one game and important role players like Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem missing significant time. Now that they Heat are rolling, they know what they have to do, beat Boston (they are 0-3 in 3 tries this year...or they could hope that Boston is upset in the early rounds of the playoffs. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that scenario to happen) if they want to battle for an NBA championship this June.

With no offense to other teams having a great year (the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic to name a few), these are really the only 4 teams that have a chance to win the 2011 NBA championship. Barring injury to important players or another unforeseen disaster, I expect these teams to be the NBA's "final four" in a couple of months. I haven't settled on a favorite out of these teams (other than my irrational bias for the Lakers telling me that they are the best of this bunch) and it will be exciting to watch the final third of the season develop.

What excluded team do you think has the best chance of crashing this "final four" bracket that I have presented?

Great NBA Commercials

Looks like the NBA is gonna get the same treatment I gave the College Football season. That is, I won't be writing a season preview until after the season started because the season started...last week. My bad... though in my defense, there are only 4 teams that have a real shot of winning the title anyway (Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and let's not forget the team that is home to the reigning two-time MVP, the Cleveland Cavaliers...ummm, I meant the Miami Heat) so I'll get to them in due time.

At any rate, I love the NBA because of great league concept commercials like "where amazing happens" (remember these?) but more importantly the return of shoe commercials. The evolution in shoe commercials (mostly because uber-brand Nike doesn't have to sell merchandise, they sell concepts, like "cool") means the entertainment value of these commercials is through the roof. Adidas has brought in Ken Jeong from The Hangover fame to co-star with their signature athletes Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose in their "Fast Don't Lie" series. This commercial is the best of the bunch. I gotta get Derrick Rose's shoes so I can "get freaky fast too" (Do the shoes come with the lady pyramid? That's a real question by the way...)

Even the most marginal of shoe companies are getting in on the act. Converse, which hasn't been a relevant sneaker company (this is not to speak ill of the classic Chuck Taylor's) since Nixon was being a tricky Dick in the White House,  got Dr. J to make a guest spot in their newest commercial. (Jim Jones also makes a cameo, though he doesn't do any ballin')

Hell, even SKECHERS brought back the immortal Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone to talk some nonsense about making a possible NBA come back because they are using the Skechers shape-up. I don't know what made Skechers think they should start selling basketball-related shoes or use Abdul-Jabbar and Malone (who were in their prime in the late 70s and late 90s; respectively) to sell shoes to the kids today. But hey, what do I know?

Also, I gotta give credit to LeBron and Nike for the best ad of this early NBA season. I don't wanna go over the Lebron "Decision" drama in great detail

That Nike/LeBron commercial takes everything that was ridiculous about LeBron's summer 1. the poor handling of "The Decision" 2. Charles Barkley (and other notable personalities in the media as well as former legends) going innnn on LeBron for leaving Cleveland 3. the fact that LeBron can't stop listening to his friends ("because they're my friends") 4. Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert and Cavaliers fans acting like the last 7 years weren't the pinnacle of Cavalier basketball (possibly Cleveland sports, with all due respect to the great Jim Brown...).

The most important feature of the commercial was the challenge (taunt even) by LeBron to supporters and detractors alike: "What should I do? Should I be who you want me to be?" When it comes down to it, that's the most overlooked part of about LeBron being on the Miami Heat. LeBron made a decision (execution of said decision aside) that represented what he was about and what he wanted to do with his life. As I listened to the last few lines of the commercial, I couldn't help but think that LeBron was echoing Drake in "Up All Night" ("f**k what they be talking about, they opinion doesn't count, we the only thing that matters") and that's essentially where we stand now. LeBron has simultaneously owned up to his past failings, reminded us that he is still capable of greatness and let us know who's opinion really matters. Of course, it's just a 92 second Nike commercial meant to sell shoes, I could be reading too much into this...

Team USA's Coming Out Party

Madrid, Spain

The 1992 USA Team that dominated the Barcelona Olympics it was not. Long gone are the days where our international competition takes their 40+ point whupping and asks for autographs when the game is over. Instead, last Saturday and Sunday saw Team USA struggle before winning 2 exhibition games in the run up to this year's 2010 FIBA World Championship. This version of Team USA is missing some serious star power from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. If you scan the roster you will not see some of the NBA's biggest names that played so well in Beijing like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, or Dwight Howard. In a youth-movement of sorts (I know Chauncey Billups is on this team and he started balling with Father Time), the "Darantula", Kevin Durant headlines a group of rising NBA superstars in Madrid. 


I'm not even going to talk about the first game against Lithuania. We'll get the cliff notes version from Rasheed Wallace . Ok, so maybe that didn't really fill you in as to what took place, but this game was so dismal that you're gonna thank me when you read these condensed bullet points

• Team USA opens up the first half shooting 3 for 26 and an anemic 7 point first quarter
• Halftime score: Lithuania 29, USA 26. I would have rather stapled my hand to a wall than watch this first half...
• Rudy Gay knocks down four free throws after a flagrant foul in the 3rd quarter and turns a 1 point 50-49 lead into a 5 point cushion
• Team USA wakes up and realizes that they're playing LITHUANIA(!!!!), hitting the cruise control en route to a 77-61 win.

The second game against Spain may reveal the character of this USA team going forward. After building a comfortable 69-58 lead after 3 quarters against the Spaniards, Team USA started to slack and let in the 4th quarter and let Spain back into the game. The hometown team took its first lead of the game (82-80) with an 8-0 run that was fueled by plain awful shot-selection and carelessness from American players (I'm talking about your air-balled 3 Lamar Odom...)

The last 30 seconds of the game were spectacular (USA-Spain Recap) 

Kevin Durant, the aforementioned "Darantula" used his obscene 7' 6" wingspan to deny Ricky Rubio (roll those rs) and Rudy Fernandez pm consecutive 3-point attempts with less than 7 seconds to go. This win demonstrated some real grit for the Americans and could be a harbinger of their FIBA play once the games start to count this Saturday. We'll probably see them take leads and then let teams back into the game with poor offensive continuity and bone-headed decisions. Hopefully, they'll continue to walk away on the right side of hotly contested games.